One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Persuasive Essay

1631 Words7 Pages

“Because of the works of the law, none of mankind will be justified in His sight; for through the law comes knowledge of sin.” Romans 3:20. Most evil actions stem from knowledge of them. If students didn't know anything about cigarettes or marijuana, then it is unlikely they would be so prevalent in schools. Knowledge of rape drugs is often what inspires people to acquire them. The glorification of violence is what drives people to hurt others. In the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesley, sex, drugs, and violence are rampant. This is a novel that has sold hundreds of thousands of copies to schools to be taught in their high school curriculum. Exposing children to the dark and twisted themes of the novel without parental consent. …show more content…

Profanity and racism take center stage in many of the conversations. A good example of this is Nurse Rached, primarily African American, being called “the black boys” and even “tar babies” at one point in the novel. (Kesley 16) The entire point of the black boys is to be the only ones unempathetic enough to carry out Nurse Rached's will, and all of them being black sends a harmful message. This racist wording is the same reason To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee has been banned. The racist terminology in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is the exact same as in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. In the arguments used to ban that book, it was often mentioned that the language in the book reinforces the racist language that's still very alive today and how its use in the book humiliates African American students. (Saney) Why teach stories that teach racist language without consequence when schools could teach books like Frederick Douglass’s Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass? With stories like that, students can learn about what it is like to be on the receiving end of such vile discrimination. Racism is not the only form of foul language in OFOTCN; the novel is stuffed to the brim with words like fuck, damn, shit, dumbass, etc. Examples range from casual conversation (Kesley 48) to calling girl’s whores. Studies found strong correlations between profanity usage and violence among youth. In addition, it has also been shown that there is a connection between profanity exposure and relational aggression among teens (Sarah M. et al.,